The Genome Stability and Research Program is one of two basic research programs in the Vermont Cancer Center. The program includes a diverse group of laboratory scientists with common interests in nucleic acids. DNA damage and repair, genes and gene expression, and cancer. The overall scientific focus of the program is on understanding the initiation and progression of neoplasia by analyzing and elucidating the mechanistic basis of DNA replication, DNA recombination, repair and gene expression, and the ways that these various cellular mechanisms related to DNA damaging agents (including cancer therapeutic agents) as well as the endogenous stability of the genome. Important expansion of the program has occurred in the areas of structural and computational biology. An ongoing effort is to define biomarkers with the ultimate goal of determining preventive strategies and providing the means for early diagnosis of cancer r pre-neoplastic conditions. Researchers in the program continue to explore the molecular and biochemical analysis of these events under the leadership of Susan. S. Wallace, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and Director of the Markey Center for Molecular Genetics.